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brother have my car to-night, so I’m honoring you with my presence in that famous flivver of yours.”

“You will be remarkably welcome,” Chan told him. “Yes—I travel townward almost at once. There remains one little matter———”

Anna, the maid, came hurriedly into the room. “Miss Dixon said you wanted to see me,” she remarked to Chan.

He nodded. “A trifling affair. You told me earlier this evening that a certain ring was missing from Miss Fane’s finger after the homicide. An emerald ring.”

“I did, sir.”

Julie O’Neill was leaning forward, breathless, her eyes wide.

“Is this the ring?” Chan suddenly produced a platinum band decorated with a surprising stone that flashed green in the brightly lighted room.

“That is it, sir,” Anna nodded.

Chan turned to Julie. “So sorry to drag you in. But will you kindly tell me—how does it happen I find this bauble in the drawer of your dressing-table?” The girl gasped, and Jimmy Bradshaw looked at her in amazement. “I am very sorry this question comes out, which disappoints me sadly,” Charlie continued. “But I should say, things need explanation.”

“It’s very simple,” answered Julie in a low voice.

“Naturally,” bowed Chan. “Just how simple, according to your story?”

“Well.” She hesitated. “There are only a few of us here—I can speak frankly. Shelah was always hard up. Somehow money meant nothing to her, it slipped through her fingers, it was gone a moment after she